If Australia is to do its bit to help avoid the global food crisis, we need to work collaboratively to turn the flood of ag-related information gathered by sensors, satellites and the like (collectively known as 'big data') into tools farmers can use to support better decision-making, say experts including the Australian Farm Institute's Mick Keogh and NSW Farmers' David Eyre.

From a driverless ‘Greenbot’ to a sensor-driven precision nozzle, a tractor-mounted soil mapper to an independently-functioning e-rake, cutting-edge technology unveiled at the most recent Agritechnica in Hanover, Germany, is set to make farming almost automatic – though there'll still be grunt work to do.